Landscape Management, March 2016
Frank Mariani 44 LANDSCAPEMANAGEMENT NET March 2016 1 800 270 6782 www goilawn com Know the job Show the client Guide the crew Quote With Confdence Use Go iLawn With Go iLawn youll really know your jobsites so youll have the choose you Bid with facts not guesses See the whole job Sell better using images Execute faster using maps Market yourself to the neighborhood Visit more jobs in less time Visit www GoiLawn com promo and use the code LM163 Try Go iLawn for Free today few rocky years causing many companies like Marianis to forgo using it due to administrative problems Mariani Landscape an approximately 40 million company used the program from the early 2000s until a few years ago when it didnt receive any of the workers it was anticipating Yet the landscape industry continues to be one of the largest users of the program which has been embroiled in federal regulatory and legal hang ups Visa levels are at half the number of those issued during peak prerecession years That said there may be an uptick this year as returning workers H2R visas are being permitted which hasnt been the case since 2007 In Texas the labor situation has been difficult during the past few years due to a strong state economy says Ben Collinsworth CEO of Native Land Design based near Austin Texas Weve had such a construction boom so with that shared labor pool its been very difficult to keep retain and attract workers he says And its been hard with the H 2B crisis and some of the things that have gone on Last year the companys workers were delayed eight weeks which created two months of seven day workweeks Pay to play Spring 2014 was a tipping point at Mariani Landscape in Lake Bluff Ill We were turning over a couple hundred people a year do you know how much training was involved in that says Frank Mariani CEO of Lake Bluff Ill based Mariani Landscape It was demoralizing for our team Going into the following season Mariani management had a strategic planning session to consider its options one of them was simply raising wages by a few dollars A lot of our people felt theres no way we could afford to do this Mariani says I said Theres no way we can afford not to do something The company gave the pay hike idea a try It raised wages for entry level laborers to the 1250 per hour range It worked Mariani says Turnover was about a quarter of the level it had been the year before There was a bottom line impact but not as much as the team expected An increase in productivity made up for some of the costs Mariani encourages other companies to consider this scenario but only after considering other factors first Its not just money he says How is it to work at ABC Co Is it fun Is it safe Is it rewarding Those are the things we have to sell he says noting company culture continues to be a focus at Mariani Landscape Continued on page 46 Labor strategy ILLuSTrATIOn ISTOCk COM ALEx BELOMLInSky
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